China 高二 Geography

Chapters: 9

1. Sel.1 Ch.1 Earth's motion

Rotation and revolution · Geographic significance (day length, seasons, time)

Rotation and Revolution of the Earth – Earth has two main motions. Rotation: it spins on its axis from west to east once in about 24 hours, giving day and night, the daily path of the Sun, local time (15° of longitude per hour) and the bending of winds and currents (Coriolis effect). Revolution: it travels round the Sun on an elliptical orbit once in about 365¼ days. Because the axis is tilted 23.5° from the perpendicular to the orbit plane (the ecliptic) and always points the same way, the overhead Sun moves between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, day length changes, and we get seasons, solstices and equinoxes.

2. Sel.1 Ch.2 Shaping the surface

Internal and external forces; rock cycle · Tectonic landforms · River landforms

Geomorphic Processes: How Forces Build and Wear the Land – The Earth's surface is shaped by two sets of forces. Endogenic forces come from inside, powered by the Earth's heat: diastrophism (folding, faulting, uplift, sinking) and volcanism build up the land. Exogenic forces come from outside, powered by the Sun and gravity: weathering breaks rock where it stands, mass movements move it down slopes, and running water, wind, glaciers and waves erode and deposit it, slowly lowering high land. Weathered rock plus plants and tiny organisms over a long time becomes soil. Parent rock, climate, relief, living things and time decide what kind of soil forms.
Distribution of Oceans and Continents: Drift, Spreading and Plates – In 1912 Alfred Wegener said all continents were once one landmass, Pangaea, surrounded by one ocean, Panthalassa, and that they drifted apart. Matching coastlines, rocks, fossils, glacier deposits and placer gold supported him, but he could not explain the force. Mapping the ocean floor showed ridges, plains and trenches; Harry Hess then proposed sea-floor spreading: new crust forms at mid-ocean ridges and old crust sinks at trenches. This led to plate tectonics: the lithosphere is broken into rigid plates that move on the soft asthenosphere and meet at divergent, convergent and transform boundaries. The Indian plate broke away from the south, moved north, and collided with Asia to raise the Himalayas.
Landforms and their Evolution: Work of Running Water and Wind – Running water and wind are two major agents that carve and build landforms. A river cuts deep V-shaped valleys, gorges, canyons, waterfalls and potholes in its steep upper course, and it builds alluvial fans, deltas, flood plains, natural levees and point bars where it slows down. Its bends (meanders) grow and are cut off to form oxbow lakes. In deserts, wind blows away loose sand (deflation), sand-blasts rock (abrasion) into mushroom rocks, and helps sheet floods wear land into pediments, pediplains and inselbergs; it deposits sand as dunes such as barchans, parabolic, seif, longitudinal and transverse dunes. Landforms go through stages, youth, maturity and old age, like living things.

3. Sel.1 Ch.3 Atmospheric motion

Weather systems (fronts, cyclones) · Pressure belts and wind belts · Effects on climate

Atmospheric Circulation and Weather Systems – Air has weight, so it presses down: this is air pressure (about 1013 mb at sea level). Wind blows from high pressure to low pressure, pushed by the pressure gradient force, turned by the Coriolis force (right in the north, left in the south) and slowed by friction near the ground. Uneven heating makes pressure belts (equatorial low, subtropical highs, subpolar lows, polar highs) and three circulation cells, giving planetary winds: trade winds, westerlies and polar easterlies. Belts shift with the seasons, giving seasonal winds like the monsoon; local winds include land and sea breezes and mountain and valley winds. Big bodies of air with the same temperature and moisture are air masses; where two meet is a front. Cyclones are low-pressure storms: tropical cyclones form over warm seas; extratropical ones form along fronts. Thunderstorms and tornadoes are small but violent storms.
Climate Zones of the World – Climate is the average weather of a place over about 30 years. It depends mainly on latitude (how high the Sun climbs), altitude (about 6.5 °C cooler per km up), distance from the sea, winds and ocean currents. Using these, the Köppen system sorts the world into five groups: A tropical, B dry, C temperate, D continental and E polar, plus highland climates on high mountains. Monsoon climates have winds that change direction with the seasons.

4. Sel.1 Ch.4 Water motion

Land water bodies · Ocean currents · Ocean–atmosphere interaction (El Niño)

Land Water Bodies: Rivers, Lakes and Groundwater – Rivers, lakes and groundwater are linked stores of fresh water on land. Rain, snowmelt and glacier melt feed them. In the wet season a river is higher than the water table and gives water to the ground. In the dry season the water table is higher and groundwater (baseflow) feeds the river. Lakes store water and release it slowly.
Movements of Ocean Water: Waves, Tides and Currents – Ocean water moves in three ways. Waves are made mostly by wind: the energy moves forward while each bit of water goes round in a small circle; waves slow down and break in shallow water. Tides are the regular rise and fall of the sea, usually twice a day, caused by the Moon's (and Sun's) pull and the Earth–Moon spin. When Sun, Moon and Earth line up (new and full moon) we get very high spring tides; when they are at right angles (quarter moons) we get weak neap tides. Ocean currents are huge rivers of water flowing in fixed directions, pushed by winds, heating, gravity, salinity and density differences, and turned by the Coriolis force. Warm currents flow from the equator towards the poles; cold currents flow from the poles towards the equator. Currents change coastal climates, fishing, fog and shipping.
Ocean–Atmosphere Interaction: El Niño and La Niña – The sea and the air trade heat and water all the time. In a normal year, trade winds push warm surface water to the west of the Pacific, rain falls there, and cold water rises in the east. In El Niño the winds weaken and warm water slides east; in La Niña the winds get stronger and the pattern is stretched further.
Earth's Geography and Climate: Rain Shadows, El Niño and La Niña – Climate depends on geography. Latitude sets how much sunlight arrives; air rising at the equator and sinking near 30° makes rainforests and deserts (the Hadley cell). Altitude cools air about 6.5 °C per km. Oceans warm and cool slowly, so coasts have milder climates, and ocean currents carry heat. Mountains force moist wind upward, giving rain on the windward side and a dry rain shadow behind. El Niño is when Pacific trade winds weaken and warm water spreads east, shifting rain and changing weather worldwide; La Niña is the opposite, with stronger trade winds and a colder east Pacific.

5. Sel.1 Ch.5 Integrity and difference

Integrity · Zonal differences

Geographic Zonation: Latitudinal and Vertical Belts – Zonation means that nature changes in belts. Because the Sun heats the Earth unevenly, temperature, climate, soil and plants change in belts from the equator to the poles (latitudinal zonation). Temperature also falls about 6.5 °C for every 1 km of height, so a tall mountain shows similar belts from its foot to its top (vertical zonation).

6. Sel.2 Ch.1 Regions

Types of regions; integrity and linkage

Regional Geography: How We Divide the World into Regions – A region is an area that shares one or more features, which makes it different from the areas around it. Formal (uniform) regions are alike inside, like a plain or a rice-growing belt. Functional (nodal) regions are held together by links to a centre, like a city and the villages that travel to it. Perceptual regions exist in people's minds. Region edges are usually transition zones, and regions depend on each other through flows of people, goods, water and ideas.

7. Sel.2 Ch.2 Resources, environment and regions

Natural base of development · Fragile-ecology area management · Transition of resource-depleted cities

The Natural Base of Regional Development – Every region starts with a natural base: its landform (relief), climate, water, soil, minerals and living things. This base decides what is easy to build (farms, towns, mines, ports) and what is hard. It does not fix the future, because people add technology, trade and planning, but the weakest natural condition often limits a region the most.
Desertification – Desertification is when good land in dry areas slowly loses its plants and soil and becomes like a desert. It is caused by people (overgrazing, cutting trees, over-farming, poor irrigation) and by nature (drought, rising heat). It does not mean deserts "moving". It brings hunger, dust storms and migration. It can be slowed by planting trees and grass, grazing fewer animals, saving water and fixing sand with checkerboards.
Transition of Resource-Depleted Cities – A resource-depleted city grew around a mine or oil field. When the resource runs out, jobs and people leave and the land is damaged. The way forward is to repair the land, build new industries and services, retrain workers and use the old sites in new ways, as the Ruhr and Pittsburgh did.

8. Sel.2 Ch.3 Cities, industry and regions

Urban radiation function · Changes in industrial structure

Urban Radiation Function and City Clusters – A city does not stop at its edge. Its goods, services, jobs, money and ideas spread outwards, like ripples, to the villages and towns around it. This is its radiation function. The influence gets weaker with distance and grows with the city size and better transport. When several large cities are close and well joined, they form a city cluster.
Changes in Industrial Structure and Industrial Upgrading – Every region earns its living from three kinds of work: farming and mining (primary), factories (secondary) and services (tertiary). As a region grows richer, the share of each kind changes. Farming falls, factories rise, and later services lead. Industrial upgrading means making the industry itself cleaner, smarter and more valuable.

9. Sel.2 Ch.4 Regional links and coordination

River-basin coordination · Cross-regional resource transfer · Industrial transfer · International cooperation

River Basin Development and Coordination – A river basin is all the land that drains into one river. Because water flows only downhill, what happens upstream reaches everyone downstream. Basin development means using the river for power, irrigation, transport, drinking water and industry. Coordination means all the regions along the river plan and share together, so floods, shortages and pollution are handled as one team.
Cross-Regional Resource Transfer: Water, Gas and Power – Resources are not spread evenly. One region may have plenty of water, gas or power, while another with many people and factories is short. Cross-regional transfer moves these resources through canals, pipelines and high-voltage lines. It brings supply and growth, but also costs, losses and harm to nature, so projects need careful planning.
Industrial Transfer: Why Factories Move – Industrial transfer means industries moving from one region to another, usually from a crowded, costly developed area to a cheaper, less developed one. Push factors (high land and wage costs, full space, tight rules) and pull factors (cheap land and labour, new transport, state help) cause it. It brings jobs and growth to the receiving region, lets the old region upgrade to services, but can bring pollution and uneven benefits.
Climate Policy: How the World Acts on Climate Change – Climate policy is the set of agreements, laws and plans that cut greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) and help people cope with a changing climate (adaptation). Because the atmosphere is shared, no country can solve the problem alone, so countries cooperate through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Agreement (2015). Under Paris, every country sets its own target (an NDC) and raises it every five years, aiming to keep warming well below 2 °C and to try for 1.5 °C. At home, governments use carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, rules and standards, and support for clean energy. Many have set net-zero (carbon-neutral) targets: by a set year, any gas still emitted is balanced by gas removed. Fairness matters: richer countries emitted most in the past, so the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, climate finance and technology sharing help poorer countries develop cleanly.